Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

16 July 2026

2-minute read

The Gauteng Department of Health has admitted to spending over R600million a year employing foreign national healthcare professionals while hundreds of local doctors who have completed their training remain unemployed.

Vice-chairperson of the South African Medical Association, Dr Zanele Bikitsha, says that the reality is that the department of health is understaffed, with a ratio of barely 0.03 doctors per thousand patients. With internships and community service mandatory for doctors and two rounds of placements since December, many medical officers still remain unemployed despite being “willing and ready to serve.”

Dr Bikitsha emphasizes that this is a crisis and refuses to believe that it is merely poor planning and governance failure. Funding for health is not optional, but the department must be in agreement with the staffing issues.

“SAMA is not against foreign nationals at all,” Dr Bikitsha reiterates, but indicates the need for more health force employment, vetting of qualifications and registration with statutory bodies, and monitoring of CPD (Continued Professional Development), to ensure that doctors are up to date with the latest in the health sector.

According to Dr Bikitsha, there is a risk of South Africa losing our skilled professionals to other countries, thereby causing damage to the healthcare sector, particularly if the NHI were to be rolled out. On a psychological level, certain doctors feel mentally challenged when they cannot find a job, leading to them committing suicide.

Prior to the report being sent out by the Ombudsman, SAMA was already “demanding immediate action.” Dr Bikitsha says they have written to the most affected departments – the Eastern Cape and KZN – to outline the urgent action that is required so that the issue does not take a toll on human life. The solution requires urgent attention and intervention from treasury, as they cannot be dealing with complications and patients dying due to “just sundries.”

Listen to the full interview with Ml Habib Bobat and Dr Zanele Bikitsha here.